I am a landscape architecture student at the University of Oklahoma. This is a place where I can explore links and relationships of landscape and Oklahoma.

Jord Wilson

DAYS TILL GRADUATION

Graduate Student of Master of Landscape Architecture;
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design;
Minor in Interdisciplinary Principles of the Environment;
College of Architecture;
University of Oklahoma

wanderings

I was born in Oakland California. I grew up in North Central Washington, in the eastern foothills of the Cascades and on the Columbia River. I graduated from a school of 250 students K-12. I didn't attend college until after I was 30, so I brought to school my experience: garden designer, carpenter, concrete worker, florist, greenhouse manager, perennial expert, shrub and tree salesman, bus driver, truck driver, apartment manager and maintenance man. Frequently I worked 3+ jobs a day during my go-get-'em-like-your-killin' -snakes years. So I was well prepared for the vigor's of the University and the initiation rituals of the Architecture department. I graduated from the College of Architecture with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design and a minor in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment. College has allowed me to bundle my many paths into a single and wide corridor. I started my Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 2006.

bearings

Knowing where I've been is the easy part. Knowing where I come from and where I am going is the challenge. I moved into a little rent house out in the country about 15 miles south of Norman Oklahoma. During my first winter in Oklahoma, I dabbled in some genealogy. I found two great-grandfathers and their families buried within a few miles of my new home. It was not just serendipity that my internal way-finder connected and centered me in the place of my forefathers. I have a deep connection with this place.

compass

The spirit of place.Present and past human connections influence our lives. Community, family and place are part of our soul. Regional identity is both cultural and physical. The spirit of place is what nourishes our beginings and tethers our world view. It is also that soul and bond that embraces our community. Technology has allowed us to disregard the environmental aspects of place. The media wants us to believe we are a global society and that our world is getting smaller. Our world gets smaller when we exchange our spirit of place for anothers. The spirit of place must be unearthed again to regain the comfort of belonging.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

A Clearing in the Distance

A Clearing In The Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century (Paperback) by Witold Rybczynski

If you have not read this book and you are interested in becoming or even interested in Landscape Architecture, it is a must. I just finished it. I had put off reading it, because of F.L.Olmsted overload. However, it is an inspiration. F.L. Olmsted is one of those over achieving people that have a need to change the world and leave their mark. He obviously left his mark. What I found so inspirational about this book was the similarities in my own life to his. (Not to compare my accomplishments to Olmsted.) It is his late start in life and his interest in numerous subjects. Really I think it is what makes an accomplished LA. The wider your base of knowledge the more apt and capable to solve complex problems. LA's really deal with social problems. If it wasn't so, then engineers would suffice for the complex problems they solve. It is an art of human touch on the environment. It is the manipulation of the environment at the pleasure of the client. (water coming into the house from bad drainage is un-pleasureable. So I would consider grading to be at the pleasure of the client.) If pleasure was not required, then simple, engineered formulas could be easily cataloged and called upon to solve problems. Experience the freeway system of Oklahoma, and you have experienced an environment manipulated by engineers. They are efficient, but aesthetically dead. Our 40 minute a day commute is as stimulating as a structural load formula, and that is a topic for a completely different entry. kudos to Rybczynsky. It is a magnificent, enlightening and inspiring account of Mr. Olmsted's life.